Chapter Text
The living room was quiet. If you ask anyone, it was too quiet for a house with two kids in it.
Somewhere near the kitchen, the fridge hummed. A pot sat cold on the stovetop. The smell of reheated soup lingered in the air, and Kris sat upside-down on the couch, legs hanging over the back, head nearly touching the floor.
"You're gonna fall and hit your head, Kris," Asriel muttered without looking up from his math worksheet. Kris replied by shaking their head side to side, hair dusting the floor as their headband loosened slightly.
On the fridge was a note in their mother’s clean cursive: 'Back late. Leftover stew from Asgore in the fridge. Do NOT touch the thermostat. -Mom'
Asriel had dutifully microwaved the stew. Kris had dutifully avoided it. They hated their dad's cooking, and reheating only meant double the amount of damage. A risk they weren't willing to take. Cookies sounded better, but despite having the ingredients, nobody had time to make them, apparently.
So, instead of sitting in there, they had both migrated to the living room, where the big, old, CRT TV loomed like a dormant creature from some older time. Dust clung to its sides. The remote was probably hidden in a couch cushion somewhere, channels being changed by using the TV's buttons. It barely worked on a good day, always sticking to a select few channels.
Kris suddenly flipped over and sat up, scrambling over to Asriel in the middle of the carpet and pushing them aside by their face. They grabbed a red crayon and began writing frantically on the back of their homework. Asriel wasn't affected too much by this behaviour and moved Kris' hand away, looking at the page. "What do you want now?"
The note said something along the lines of: 'The TV. Sideways. We can lie down and see it. Like. . . side way movie night.'
Asriel squinted and laughed softly. "That's dumb."
Kris grinned and didn't listen to their warning, already dusting themselves off and beginning to try and push the heavy TV.
A pause. Asriel sighed. "Fine. But if it breaks, you're telling Mom."
Asriel approached the TV like it was a sacred object. It was heavy, and awkward, and sat atop an old wooden stand that creaked when Kris tugged on the wires and cords behind. With a pillow placed on the floor, Asriel helped, muttering warnings the whole time but knowing they couldn't convince Kris otherwise.
It took effort, some stumbling, and one near-toe-crush incident, but finally- finally- they managed to somewhat tip it sideways, off the stand, and attempt to gently lower it onto the pillow, the screen now facing sideways.
"Success," Asriel whispered, dramatically collapsing beside it. Kris lay next to them, but their older brother was still unsure. "This is so dumb, let's get to the couch. I'll plug it back in."
As Kris got up first, the TV made a soft clicking noise. Probably mechanics inside resting or just some other logical explanation. Both kids turned to look. The screen, dark moments before, flickered. A single line of blue raced across the middle, then split into four. It glowed faintly, a pulsing beat.
". . .D-did you touch something?" Asriel asked, scooting back. Kris shook their head frantically, looking over to see it wasn't plugged in, so how was it on? The screen went completely white, a low hum emitting from it. Then, a vertical line of static appeared, squirming like a worm.
"Kr-" BOOM
A loud bang happened internally. Thick, black smoke hissed out of every direction, both children covered their faces and winced. "Mom's gonna kill us, Kris!"
Still too worried to look, the TV lifted- stood Upright. All on its own-? A mechanical whrrrr echoed from inside it. The base groaned as the heavy machine righted itself with slow, unnatural grace, clicking in place like it was clicking its joints after an eternal slumber.
Kris ran over and took hold of Asriel, backing away, eyes wide as they grabbed their brother's sleeve and tugged. Asriel followed along as they both hid behind the couch.
"HELLOOOOOOOO, MY FAITHFUL VIEWERS!" a voice boomed from the speakers in the sides. Once just a screen, there now stood a figure- tall, flickering, humanoid but stretched like an old VHS tape paused at the wrong moment.
From spinning test patterns, there was now a 'face' as a fuzzy screen with a simple cone-shaped nose, mouth beneath with teeth just as shiny. Two bent antennae stuck out wildly. His suit was bright red with a shiny 'TV' badge stuck on it.
"WELCOME! WELCOME!" he said as he began to bow frantically, the sound of an audience cheering emitting from him. "You're JUST in time for today's LIVE PREMIERE!"
As the two of them crouched behind the couch, they tried to focus on not breathing too loudly. Peeking just barely over the cushion’s edge, this wasn't good.
The figure- whoever, whatever he was- was now examining the coffee table. "Wow! What a set! Really going for the suburban-void aesthetic, huh? Who's your production designer, sadness?" It leaned over and slapped it's knee, hand waving frantically as if to say 'stop'.
"I'm KIDDING! This is a lovely home you've got, you two. Now don't be shy, come out, I KNOW you're hiding!" He leaned down to sniff a half-empty juice box, curious. Then stuck a tongue out to try it. Static hissed.
Asriel whispered, "What is that thing? And more importantly, how do we get rid of it-?" Kris just shrugged their shoulders. They seem oddly unfazed at this whole event now. "Who even ARE you?!" Asriel called before slapping his hands over his own mouth. It looked his way. Or he assumes it did.
The figure paused, straightened itself as much as it could in the short room, then turned slowly toward the couch. "Well, I'm your GOOD friend, Tenna! You named me after all, Asriel." His voice switched tones all the time, from old-timey radio to cartoon jingle to quiet news anchor, empathise on certain words.
"Look, I don't know what's happening, but BOY is it GOOD to finally speak so freely to you both! And might I say, this room looks a lot prettier from this angle. But hey! It’s really nice to be out of syndication!"
Kris and Asriel didn’t respond. Tenna wandered toward the microwave, pressing buttons that did nothing. And then he got smaller, shrunk somehow. Now standing at an appropriate height where he could stretch properly, only his antennae getting caught in the doorframes now and then. "Where’s craft services when you need 'em? Am I right? Haha! Ha-."
He tapped his chin at the lack of a response. Then, turning around sharply, he pointed both fingers toward the hallway. "Bathroom's that way, right?" Neither child answered. "Ehhhh. . . I'll hold it."
With the tough crowd, his posture faltered slightly, seeming less confident. Then, with an idea, he strolled the best he could towards the TV stand. "Stay tuned, Kiddos."
And with a quick puff of smoke, it was like nothing happened. Just their regular, same, and dusty TV sitting there, a flicker of white and then the empty nothingness reflecting their confused expressions.
The room was silent. Asriel turned to Kris. "We're telling Mom." Yet Kris was clearly reluctant, crossing their arms and flicking their head side to side. But Asriel pushed. "She needs to know-"
Kris went and grabbed the crayon and homework again, scribbling that 'They take TV'.
Asriel hesitated. "If we wait, it- that-. . . Tenna might come back! Who knows what it wants? Kris, it's unsafe."
Kris was clearly upset, and Asriel was completely unsure of what to do. Torn between safety and loyalty. The safety of everyone was at risk because of this unknown being in their house, but Kris would be so sad and probably hate Asriel forever and ever! So, he tried to choose both.
Their parents came back about an hour later, shopping in both of their hands as they unpacked everything in the kitchen. Asgore mentioned something about the food and Kris could only wince. They decided to have some toast instead.
As both the kids enjoyed spreading their own jam on the toast, Toriel settled down and grabbed her book along with her reading glasses. On the other hand, there was Asgore, taking up practically the whole couch, unlike Toriel in her chair, as he put his feet up from walking all day.
"Be a dear and turn the TV on, would you?" He said with a vague gesture towards the general direction of the device. Toriel somewhat scowled but tapped the power button anyway, only to get no response.
Standing up, she sighed and placed her book down, looking behind the TV. "Asriel? Kris? Have you unplugged the TV?" She somewhat yelled to be heard from behind there. They both froze up, exchanging a quick glance to each other that their mother couldn't see.
"Uh, we just wanted to save power? It made a weird noise." Asriel made up quickly, putting a thumbs up to Kris.
"A weird noise? Perhaps it's time for a new television then. . ." At this, Kris shook Asriel aggressively, jam on their hands now all over his jumper.
Asgore looked over at them both at this reaction but assumed they were just playing about. Asriel once again yelled over to their mother. "N-no. There was no noise. Weird noise? I meant- weird. . . Uh. Nothing."
Once it was powered back on again, the kids held a breath, like it would magically come to life again, but nothing happened.
What was so different now? How did Tenna control such a thing?
Brushing their teeth for bed, Kris was done quite quickly, heading into their shared room, as for Asriel, he stayed behind a little longer.
"Mom?" His voice was soft, quiet due to the night but also from something else. Toriel looked down and smiled softly.
"What seems to be the matter, hun?" Her voice was just as soft, it was warm and welcoming. Just like the pies she made. Asriel debated telling her, saying what they really saw today. But what if Kris is right? It was way too heavy on their mind.
"Nothing. I love you." He said defeated, washing his toothbrush and putting it away.
"Well, I love you too. Now let's get you to bed." And with that, the night felt long. Kris stayed up most of it, sitting there watching the door. Astriel tried to sleep but kept their lamp on just in case.
What had they gotten themselves into?